1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data transmission-reception system wherein a portable radio terminal which can transmit and receive data to and from a server over a radio channel and temporarily store such data is used to allow transmission-reception of data between the information terminal as a client and the server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when a portable information terminal or a like apparatus is used to transmit or receive an electronic mail by radio, either an apparatus wherein a portable telephone terminal such as a portable telephone set or a telephone terminal of the personal handyphone system (hereinafter referred to as PHS) and a portable information terminal are integrated with each other is used or a portable telephone terminal and a portable information terminal are connected to each other by a cable or the like and used in this state. However, the apparatus of the type wherein a portable telephone terminal and a portable information terminal are integrated with each other is excessively large when it is used as a portable telephone terminal, and besides is inferior in functions to popular portable information terminals. Therefore, a portable telephone terminal and a portable information terminal are frequently connected to each other by a cable or the like to transmit or receive an electronic mail.
However, while an electronic mail is being transmitted or received, the portable information terminal and the portable telephone terminal must be kept connected to each other, and this gives rise to a problem that the portability which is an advantage of the portable telephone terminal is deteriorated or lost. Further, data transmission processing on the portable information terminal is conventionally performed by an operation of it by a user. Also where data transmission is performed automatically, it is necessary to keep the power to the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal on and keep communication software operating. Further, when the radio wave condition is not favorable or good, it must be waited that the radio wave condition becomes good. Therefore, the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal consume the power in vain.
In particular, where the radio wave condition is not good, it is impossible to establish connection to a server and perform transmission-reception of data. Therefore, it is waited that the radio wave condition becomes good while power to the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal is kept on. Then, after it is confirmed that the radio wave condition has become good, a manual operation for data transmission-reception must be performed. This is inconvenient to the user. Further, the user need supervise the radio wave condition incessantly, and this is a burden to the user.
Further, it is essentially required to form the portable radio terminal in a reduced size and with a reduced weight because much importance is attached to the portability from its nature. Therefore, the portable radio terminal cannot include a storage medium of a large capacity therein. If the portable radio terminal otherwise includes a storage medium of a large capacity, then the portability is deteriorated significantly. Accordingly, also it is a problem that the portable radio terminal can store only a limited amount of data.
Furthermore, because the storage capacity is small and because the amount of data transmitted from a server is not fixed and the capacity of data which can be transferred by one transmission cycle cannot be estimated, the remaining capacity of the storage medium cannot be grasped accurately. Consequently, there is an inconvenience in use in that, when data transmission-reception is performed automatically, the remaining capacity of the storage medium is used up soon and the transmission-reception of data must be stopped immediately at the point of time.
Besides, if it is tried to perform data communication at a place where the radio wave condition is not good, then the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal must be started and the radio wave condition must be confirmed every time, and then, it is necessary to keep the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal operating until the radio wave condition becomes favorable. Therefore, power is dissipated in vain. Particularly since the portable radio terminal for which the portability is required is driven by a battery and is limited in applicable power, it is desirable to minimize power consumption to avoid exhaustion of the battery to the utmost.
Further, in the prior art, after the radio wave condition becomes favorable, the size of transfer data is confirmed between the portable information terminal and the portable radio terminal, and when the memory capacity of the portable radio terminal is insufficient, a backup operation is performed and then data transfer is performed. Such a transmission method as just described is low in efficiency in time in that an overhead time for data transfer is required because data transfer is performed after the backup operation is completed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a data transmission-reception system wherein, after the radio wave condition becomes good, data transfer can be performed immediately between a portable radio terminal and an information terminal without the necessity for confirmation of the memory capacity of the portable radio terminal.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a data transmission-reception system wherein data transmission-reception of an electronic mail or the like can be performed automatically even if a user does not supervise the radio wave condition.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a data transmission-reception system wherein data transfer can be performed between an information terminal and a portable radio terminal without connecting them to each other by means of a cable.
In order to attain the objects described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a data transmission-reception system, comprising a server, an information terminal serving as a client, and a portable radio terminal capable of transmitting and receiving data to and from the server over a radio circuit for allowing communication of data between the information terminal and the server, the portable radio terminal including storage means for temporarily storing data, radio wave condition detection means for detecting whether or not a radio wave condition is good, and control means for controlling the portable radio terminal such that, upon reception of data from the server, when the radio wave condition is good, data received from the server is transferred immediately to the information terminal without being stored into the storage means, and upon transmission of data to the server, when the radio wave condition is, good, data transferred from the information terminal is transmitted to the server.
In the data transmission-reception system, upon transmission-reception, the fact that the radio wave state becomes a transmission-reception allowing state is used as a trigger to start transfer of data to be transferred without discriminating whether or not the data to be transferred can be stored into the memory of the portable radio terminal, and the data are not stored into the memory of the portable radio terminal but a restored directly into a memory of the information terminal. Thus, since backup processing is performed immediately when the radio wave condition becomes good, when data transfer becomes possible actually, it is possible to make free the memory of the portable radio terminal already. Consequently, data transfer can be performed efficiently in time.
Preferably, the data transmission-reception system further comprises a data transfer medium capable of being selectively connected to the portable radio terminal and the information terminal, the data transfer medium having a memory function and a data transfer function, the data transfer medium when connected to the portable radio terminal being operable to store reception data received by the portable radio terminal and transfer stored data to be transmitted to the portable radio terminal, the data transfer medium when connected to the information terminal being operable to transfer stored reception data to the information terminal and store data to be transmitted from the information terminal. Preferably, the data transfer medium is a card in which a memory is built.
In the data transmission-reception system, even if the information terminal such as, for example, an electronic mail terminal is not directly connected to the portable telephone terminal by a cable or the like, transmission-reception of an electronic mail or the like can be performed between them, and such an electronic mail or the like can be transmitted and received automatically even if the user does not take notice of the radio wave condition. In particular, the information terminal is started up and data can be read in from the information terminal and transmitted automatically in order that such a situation that the remaining amount of the memory of the portable radio terminal is used up during a transmission period of data and transmission is disabled may not occur.
The portable radio terminal may store data to be transmitted transferred from the information terminal and transmit the data to the server when the radio wave condition is good.
The portable radio terminal may further include interruption generation means for generating an interruption signal to the information terminal when the radio wave condition becomes good, and when the information terminal receives the interruption signal, the information terminal may transfer data to be transmitted to the portable radio terminal.
Alternatively, the portable radio terminal may further include interruption generation means for generating an interruption signal to the information terminal when the radio wave condition becomes good, and when the information terminal may receive the interruption signal, the information terminal starts up communication software thereof.
In this instance, when the information terminal receives the interruption signal from the portable radio terminal, the information terminal may confirm whether or not the information terminal is in a suspended state, and when the information terminal is in a suspended state, the information terminal may first make supply of power to components thereof available and then start up the communication software. Further, after the information terminal starts up the communication software, the information terminal may transfer data to be transmitted to the portable radio terminal and then stop the supply of power to the components thereof to restore its suspended state.
The portable radio terminal may further include memory capacity confirmation means for receiving a transmission data capacity notification from the information terminal and confirming whether or not the transmission data to be received from the information terminal can be stored into the storage means, and when a result of the confirmation by the memory capacity confirmation means indicates that the transmission data can be stored into the storage means, the information terminal may transfer the data to be transmitted to the portable radio terminal.
The portable radio terminal may include transmission data presence/absence storage means for storing that a data transmission request has been received from the information terminal when the result of the confirmation by the memory capacity confirmation means indicates that the transmission data cannot be stored into the storage means.
The server and the information terminal of the data transmission-reception system allows several combinations. In particular, they may be a combination wherein the server is a mail server, and the information terminal is an electronic mail terminal, another combination wherein the server is a hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) server, and the information terminal is a web browser terminal, and a further combination wherein the server is a database server, and the information terminal is a database search terminal.
The portable radio terminal may be a portable telephone terminal.
With the data transmission-reception system described above, the following advantages can be anticipated.
Firstly, when the radio wave condition becomes good, transfer of data can be performed immediately between the portable radio terminal and the information terminal without discriminating the memory capacity of the portable radio terminal, that is, when the, radio wave condition becomes good, backup processing is performed immediately without confirmation of the memory capacity. Consequently, data transfer can be performed efficiently in time between the information terminal and the portable radio terminal. In other words, since backup processing is proceeding already when the radio wave condition becomes good and connection of a circuit is performed, when data transfer becomes possible actually, the memory capacity of the portable radio terminal can be free. Consequently, data transfer can be performed efficiently and consumption of a battery can be prevented.
Secondly, even when the memory remaining amount of the portable radio terminal is used up during data transmission, data transmission can be performed from the information terminal. The reason is that, before the information terminal performs data reception, it notifies the portable radio terminal of an amount of data to be transmitted and, if the free capacity of the memory is not insufficient, then when the portable radio terminal transmits data which have already been in the server, data are transmitted from the information terminal to the portable radio terminal. Further, since this processing is performed automatically also when the user or some other person is not present around the information terminal or when the information terminal is in a suspended state, the person who operates the information terminal need not take notice of the radio wave condition.
Thirdly, if the memory remaining amount of the portable radio terminal is insufficient when the information terminal performs data transmission, then the user can recognize that some transmission data remain in the information terminal. The reason is that the portable radio terminal has a function of confirming the capacity of data to be transmitted, comparing the data capacity with the remaining amount of the memory of the portable radio terminal, stopping, if the memory remaining amount is insufficient, storage of the data and storing the fact that some transmission data remain in the information terminal.
Fourthly, the information terminal can discriminate that it has become possible to store transmission data into the memory of the portable radio terminal. The reason is that the information terminal has a function of recognizing an interruption from the portable radio terminal and confirming the interruption factor. In particular, power is always supplied to a mechanism for recognizing an interruption and confirming the factor of the interruption, and consequently, an interruption can always be recognized. Consequently, the information terminal can discriminate a timing at which transmission data can be stored into the portable radio terminal.
Fifthly, radio data communication can be performed efficiently. The reason is that, if the portable radio terminal recognizes that the radio wave condition has become good, then it starts data transfer to the information terminal without waiting that the memory capacity becomes free. In particular, when the communication rate of radio data is higher than the transfer rate between the portable radio terminal and the information terminal, data transfer can be performed between the portable radio terminal and the information terminal without interrupting the radio data communication. Since much time is required to establish communication in the first stage in radio data communication, the efficiency in time is much higher if data are transferred at a time without performing re-connection. Further, in radio data communication of the circuit connection type, since a charge is imposed based on the period during which a circuit is connected, the charge is lower when communication is ended earlier after a connection is established once.
Sixthly, even if the user or some other person is not present around the information terminal or the information terminal is in a suspended state, the information terminal can be automatically rendered operative. The reason is that, when the information terminal is in a power-on state, it can automatically render itself operative by recognizing an interruption and confirming the factor of the interruption. On the other hand, when the information terminal is in a suspended state, if it recognizes an interruption, then power is supplied to necessary components of the information terminal to place them into an enabled state. The information terminal thus has a mechanism called power management mechanism.
Seventhly, even if the user or some other person is not present around the information terminal or the information terminal is in a suspended state, the information terminal can automatically perform data transfer. The reason is that the information terminal has a program which is automatically started up to allow communication with the portable ratio terminal when the components of the information terminal are in an enabled state as described above. Further, where the portable radio terminal has a program which can communicate with the program of the information terminal, mutual communication between the information terminal and the portable radio terminal can be performed.
Eighthly, even if the user or some other person is not present around the information terminal or the information terminal is in a suspended state, the information terminal can automatically start up itself and automatically end its operation. The reason is that the program has a mechanism for automatically starting up itself, performing data transfer and automatically ending itself after the data transfer comes to an end. Further, the program has a power management mechanism for automatically stopping, when the information terminal is automatically started up from a suspended state, supply of power to the components of the information terminal to put the information terminal into a suspended state after data transfer comes to an end.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts or elements are denoted by like reference symbols.